(Left) Michaela Coel in ‘I May Destroy You’ season 1. Photo: Natalie Seery/HBO. Copyright: HBO. (Right) Jean-Claude Van Damme in 1988’s ‘Bloodsport’. Photo: Cannon Films.
Preview:
Michaela Coel is to write and direct a new take on ‘Bloodsport’.
The original was a 1988 Jean-Claude Van Damme action pic.
A24 will produce the fresh version.
Here’s a story we’re not sure we could ever have predicted, and indeed, almost had us checking the calendar to make sure it’s not already April 1.
“I have long been in awe of fighters, and astounded by the discipline, intensity and isolation the sport demands of them. I am excited to explore this world, especially so with A24 as my collaborators. LET’S F*****G GO.”
(Right) Jean-Claude Van Damme in 1988’s ‘Bloodsport’. Photo: Cannon Films.
Directed by Newt Arnold, the 1988 ‘Bloodsport’ focused on a U.S. army captain and ninjutsu practitioner (played by Van Damme) who competes in an underground full-contact martial arts tournament in Hong Kong known as the Kumite.
It remains a cult favorite from the actor’s back catalogue, even despite the supposedly true story fueling it coming into question years afterwards.
As for Coel’s take, we don’t yet know which elements it may retain or change.
When will the new ‘Bloodsport’ be in theaters?
A24 has yet to confirm when this might score a release date, as is customary for a project at such an early stage.
Coel will be back on screens in next month’s art forgery comedy drama ‘The Christophers’, which sees her starring alongside Ian McKellen.
Michaela Coel in ‘I May Destroy You’ season 1. Photo: Natalie Seery/HBO. Copyright: HBO.
Selected Movies and TV Shows Featuring Michaela Coel:
No one will ever mistake the original ‘Anaconda’ for a good movie, and even the 1997 film itself doesn’t pretend to be one. With its random cast (Jennifer Lopez! Ice Cube! Jon Voight!), intentional silliness, and wacky premise, the movie leans into its own absurdity and ends up becoming one of those cult classics that fans adore for its ridiculousness (it was also a decent box office hit and spawned a raft of even worse sequels).
Fortunately, the filmmakers behind the new ‘Anaconda’ understand the assignment: the movie, directed by Tom Gormican (‘The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’), can only be described as a meta-reboot, in which the film both makes (loving) fun of its subject and becomes part of the pantheon itself. With comic sure things Paul Rudd and Jack Black leading the cast, the new ‘Anaconda’ is full of laughs for the first two-thirds of its running time – until it runs out of gas – and is actually even a sweet-natured homage to friendship and the love of making movies.
Ronald ‘Griff’ Griffen Jr. (Paul Rudd) is a struggling actor (his claim to fame is a few episodes of ‘S.W.A.T.’) who returns home from Hollywood to Buffalo, New York for the surprise birthday party of his friend Doug McCallister (Jack Black). Doug writes screenplays at night but shoots wedding videos by day (although his idea to turn one into a horror movie is shot down by the less-than-enthusiastic couple), and is worried about being stuck in the job forever – until Griff comes to the rescue.
At lunch with Doug and two of their other old friends – recent divorcee Claire (Thandiwe Newton) and Doug’s sometimes assistant, the dissolute Kenny (Steve Zahn) – Griff announces that he’s gotten hold of the rights to the original ‘Anaconda,’ their favorite movie as youths, and proposes that the four of them head to Brazil and ‘reboot the thing indie style.’ With the loving support of his wife (Ione Skye), Doug agrees to direct, while Griff and Claire will star and Kenny will co-produce (or something like that).
With a budget of $35,000 (their initial $2 million figure got shot down by a local bank), the foursome head to the Amazon, where they rent both a boat and an anaconda, along with his slightly obsessive owner and trainer (Selton Mello). At first the shoot seems to go swimmingly, but then they learn that the presumed captain of the boat (Daniela Melchior) is not who she appears to be, that Griff hasn’t been entirely honest with them – and that there is a real giant anaconda in hot pursuit of them.
The plot – director Tom Gormican co-wrote the screenplay with Kevin Etten – is little more than nonsense, but it’s fun nonsense and the laughs come steadily for much of the film’s first hour or so. It’s an excuse for (mainly) Rudd and Black to riff on the original movie, and the meta factor gets even more byzantine when they learn that there are real bad guys on the river behind them and a real monster snake lurking in the depths as well: Doug writes it into the script, prompting an awestruck Griff to proclaim, ‘You could be the white Jordan Peele.’
It’s only when ‘Anaconda’ turns into a semi-real action movie in its final third – with chases and explosions and lots more of the CG title beastie, which is almost an afterthought for the film’s first hour – that the movie’s charm and goofy energy begin to flag. Well, truth be told, it kind of starts to wane halfway through, but there are enough jokes to carry it along until the more conventional pyrotechnics of the third act take over, along with a not-unexpected but still rather awkward cameo.
Paul Rudd and Jack Black. Need we say more? Both actors are well within their comfort zone here. Rudd does his ‘middle-aged man struggling to find his way’ routine effortlessly, while Black does his ‘insane middle-aged man struggling to find his way’ act equally well. There is a lot of charm and chemistry between the two of them, and even though Thandiwe Newton and Steve Zahn are underwritten (especially the former), the quartet do manage to generate some of the joy of old friends having fun together and making a movie – that old ‘let’s put on a show’ vibe still comes through.
Brazilian actor Selton Mello has a few chances to steal the show with his not-quite-all-there anaconda trainer, but even he doesn’t quite pull it off, he manages to imbue the character of Santiago with some genuine empathy – even if his relationship with his snake seems a tad unnatural.
All we can add about ‘Anaconda’ is that we went into the movie with low expectations (or, really, no expectations) and ended up having a good time. While there have been a handful of excellent comedies released in 2025, those films – like ‘Splitsville’ or ‘Friendship’ – have focused on the toxic side of relationships, whether between lovers or friends.
The relationships in ‘Anaconda’ are not particularly toxic, and the friends are rather quick to forgive each other. Of course, none of the actions they take are remotely believable or smart – especially when the anaconda is chasing them – but that’s part of their appeal too. We laughed a lot at ‘Anaconda,’ and the movie embraces its source material and its own identity with the right attitude.
Childhood friends Doug, Griff, Kenny, and Claire seek to recapture their youth by traveling to the Amazon to shoot their own remake of the 1997 cult classic ‘Anaconda.’ But a real giant anaconda turns their guerilla filmmaking project into a perilous fight to stay alive.
The second time might be the charm when it comes to remaking “St. Elmo’s Fire.”
A 2009 TV series based on the Brat Pack classic failed to materialize, but there’s another modern remake in the works, according to The Hollywood Reporter. NBC is developing the project, and Josh Berman has been tasked with writing the script. Like the movie, it will center on a group of friends dealing with the struggles of young adulthood in the wake of their college graduation.
The new TV project comes from Sony Pictures Television. Berman is set to executive produce through Osprey Productions, alongside Chris King. Here’s hoping this remake attempt gets further along than the last and ultimately assembles a cast just as stellar as the original’s.
The Korean film “Extreme Job” is getting an English-language remake, and Kevin Hart may take a starring role.
Hart is working on the project with “Girls Trip” writer Tracy Oliver and the Korean company CJ Entertainment, Deadline reports. He’ll produce through his entertainment company, HartBeat Productions, and possibly star, while Oliver is set to adapt the script. Universal will distribute the film.
The original film made history at the Korean box office earlier this year. It became the region’s all-time highest-grossing film and has brought in $127 million there, per Deadline. CJ Entertainment’s head of U.S. productions, Francis Chung, said that the film has become “such a phenomenon in Korea” that they knew they had to make a U.S. version with “powerhouses” on board.
The story is a comedy that centers on a team of narcotics detectives who unexpectedly turn a fried chicken restaurant into a wild success when they’re supposed to be working undercover to take down an organized crime gag. Oliver called the concept “so unique,” while Hart indicated that HartBeat is “always seeking out fun projects” like this one.
The “Extreme Job” remake’s producers are Hart, Oliver, and Chung, and its co-producers are HartBeat’s Carli Haney and CJ’s Fred Lee and Ini Chung. Jerry Ko will executive produce for CJ.
Jodie Foster loved the Icelandic film “Woman at War” so much that she has decided to make an English-language version of it.
The two-time Academy Award winner plans to star in and direct a remake of the 2018 film, Deadline reports. She’ll take on the role played by Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir in the original. However, her version will be an “American imagining,” she said.
“Woman at War” was directed by Benedikt Erlingsson from a script he wrote with Ólafur Egilsson. It follows a music teacher named Halla who secretly partakes in environmental activism, namely working to sabotage the local aluminum industry. When she finds out that she’s been approved to adopt a baby girl from Ukraine, though, she decides to stop — but not before one big, final act.
Foster said that she “can’t wait to play [Halla],” according to Deadline. She described the character as “a warrior for the planet” with some “serious mishaps along the way.” Although Foster didn’t reveal how exactly she’ll change the story, she did say it would be set in the American West.
Foster has directed five films so far, starting with 1991’s “Little Man Tate”; her most recent was 2016’s “Money Monster.” She’s also, of course, appeared in many films, with “Hotel Artemis” hitting theaters earlier this year.
Original “Woman at War” producer Marianne Slot and Foster are teaming up on the remake with their respective production companies, Slot Machine and Egg Pictures.
David Ayer working with Joen and Ethan Coen? That’s a combo we never thought we’d see.
The “Suicide Squad” director is in early negotiations to tackle the upcoming remake of “Scarface,” Deadline reports, which has a script by the Coen brothers. Antoine Fuqua (“The Magnificent Seven”) reportedly had to drop out of the director’s race for scheduling reasons.
The new version of the immigrant who rises to become a powerful crime boss will be set in Los Angeles and will star Diego Luna of “Rogue One” and “Y Tu Mama Tambien” fame. Al Pacino memorably played the gangster kingpin in the 1983 version by Brian De Palma and those are damn hard footsteps to follow in.
Despite not having yet nailed down a director, the film has a release slot: Say hello to this little film in August 2018.
As MGM announced yesterday, the roles in the new version will be switched: Faris will be playing a single, working class mom who convinces a rich amnesiac (Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez) that he’s her husband.
Faris’s films include the “Mom.” Derbez is known for the film “Instructions Not Included,” which he directed, co-wrote and starred in. It set US and global box office records as the most successful Spanish-language film ever.
In the 1987 original, Goldie Hawn played a spoiled rich woman who falls off a boat and has no memory of who she is. Kurt Russell was the handyman who got revenge on his impossible-to-please client by telling her he’s his husband and putting her to work caring for his four children.
The original film was directed by Garry Marshall. Rob Greenberg (“How I Met Your Mother”) and Bob Fisher (“We’re the Millers”) will co-write and direct the remake.
A previously announced remake starring Jennifer Lopez never happened.
Another gender-swapped remake of another ’80s classic is already in the works: The update on “Splash” will star Channing Tatum as a merman and Jillan Bell (“Office Christmas Party’) as the human who falls for him.
With “Back to the Future” celebrating its 30th anniversary, and the recent success of various reboots and sequels to ’80s and ’90s films, it’s natural to ponder the possibility of a remake of the 1985 classic.
To that, director Robert Zemeckis says: Over my dead body!
In an interview with the U.K. Telegraph, Zemeckis was very clear about the prospects of another “Back to the Future” film.
“Oh, God no. That can’t happen until both Bob [Gale] and I are dead,” he said. “And then I’m sure they’ll do it, unless there’s a way our estates can stop it.”
Zemeckis and Gale wrote “Back to the Future” together, and the former directed it. Their contracts on the film give them veto rights over any related films for as long as they both live. That’s not the case on another Zemeckis-directed movie, “Romancing the Stone,” a remake of which has been in the works for several years. But he was just a gun for hire on that movie and has “no power over that.”
The director, though, is clearly not a fan of remaking movies. “I mean, to me, that’s outrageous. Especially since it’s a good movie. It’s like saying ‘Let’s remake Citizen Kane. Who are we going to get to play Kane?’ What folly, what insanity is that? Why would anyone do that?”
With